Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday he will vote against confirming President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch and lead a filibuster of the choice, setting up a second politically charged showdown over the judiciary in as many years.

“He will have to earn 60 votes for confirmation. My vote will be no, and I urge my colleagues to do the same,” Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor, referring to the filibuster-proof majority Gorsuch would need to clear such a hurdle.

“If this nominee cannot earn 60 votes, a bar met by each of President Obama’s nominees and George Bush’s last two nominees, the answer isn’t to change the rules. It’s to change the nominee,” Schumer added.

Schumer said he felt Gorsuch, a judge on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, “almost instinctively favored the powerful over the weak” in his rulings and “advocated extreme deference to assertions of broad presidential power” — a quality he said would not be appropriate when checks on Trump could be necessary.

Moments later, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) also announced they would oppose Gorsuch, while earlier in the day Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said he, too, would vote against Trump’s chosen jurist.

Chuck Schumer (pictured) said he felt Gorsuch was "someone who has advocated extreme deference to assertions of broad presidential power."

(J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

To overcome the filibuster threats, Republicans would need the support of 60 of the Senate's 100 members. With a 52-48 majority, they would need at least eight Democrats to support Gorsuch.

No Democratic senator has yet pledged to support the judge, although Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Wednesday he is open to voting for him.

The mounting opposition to Gorsuch comes amid lingering fury from Democrats after Republicans blocked former President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, having insisted that the next president make the nomination.

Their gamble paid off when Trump won in November.

If the Democrats succeed in uniting their opposition, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will be forced to consider changing Senate rules to confirm Gorsuch and other Supreme Court nominees with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes now required to move forward.